Hunger, athleticism and opportunism. Those are theattributes that today make Brazil’s Corinthians the champion of the world.
When Paolo Guerrero scored the only goal of the FIFA ClubWorld Cup final, against Chelsea in Yokohama City, Japan, he should have beenheavily outnumbered. The Chelsea keeper, Petr Cech, was on the floor, but therewere three Chelsea defenders between Guerrero and the goal line.
All three made the same decision. They each ran back toprotect the net, leaving the Corinthians man free air space to rise and headthe ball between them and across the goal line.
It was no less than Guerrero deserved. He had toiled, oftenalone and frequently against the odds, for 68 minutes before his big chancecame. He has spent his entire playing career outside his own country, Peru,playing for Bayern Munich and Hamburg in Germany.
But arguably Guerrero’s greatest triumph has been to conquera fear of flying sufficiently enough to be in Yokohama at all. He was agedthree when an uncle Josa Gonzalez Ganoza was killed in an air crash involvingthe Alianza team in 1987.
To play in the Bundesliga, to represent Peru’s nationalteam, and now to journey with Corinthians to Japan for a short-stay tournamentthat decides the world champion, speaks for the courage and perseverance ofJose Paolo Guerrero.
He doesn’t look to be a global superstar the way thatSocrates and Rivelino and Ze Maria and Ronaldo, all former Corinthians players,unarguably were.
Guerrero is tall, he’s strong, and on Sunday he was willingto run again and again in the hope of a lucky break.
Chelsea also has its Brazilians, but though its interimcoach Rafa Benitez started two of them “ Ramires and a lifelong Corinthians fanDavid Luiz “ he left the Sao Paulo-born Oscar on the bench until the game waseffectively lost.
Instead of Oscar, Benitez opted for Frank Lampard. The coachchose English work ethic over Brazilian flair. And he chose, after a longinjury absence for Lampard, to allow a Londoner and a Chelsea legend to leadout the side.
The decision did not appear crucial until Guerrero’s goalafter 68 minutes.
There was another, huge difference. The Club World Cup meansmore to South Americans than ever it did to Europeans. The latter, after all,class the Champions League as the pinnacle, both in earning power and inprestige.
Chelsea arrived, as European teams do, much later thanCorinthians. Chelsea was between fixtures, Corinthians was seeking to finishoff a long Brazilian season with a trophy that means so much more to theirfans.
Between 20,000 and 30,000 Brazilians were in the stadium atJapan. Thousands more, Japanese who admire the Brazilian style, were wearingCorinthians’ black and white. Maybe 100 true blue Chelsea supporters had flownin from London, and about 600 or so Chelsea fans abroad had made their way tothe stadium.
Their voices were drowned in the din of Brazilian choruses.There were no drums, but then Corinthians under the coaching of Tite do notexude Samba soccer.
This performance was all about order and discipline and,crucially, the desire to get the trophy won.
It was in that respect a Brazil side proving to be moreEuropean than the European champion.
That, in results terms, was more profitable than Santosbeing bewitched and thoroughly outplayed by Barcelona in the same stadium ayear ago. Santos, though, at least has Neymar, the bright young hope ofBrazilian soccer.
Looking ahead, it might be no bad thing for Brazil that itscurrent champion club, Corinthians, can out match Chelsea in the industry, thediscipline and the stamina expected of European sides. When Brazil next plays atruly competitive national team match, it will be 2014 and the World Cuptournament played on Brazilian soil for the first time in 60 years.
Luiz Felipe Scolari, the former coach who has just returnedto office as the Brazil national team manager, might take an omen from whathappened in Yokohama on Sunday. But he might need the migrants, from Chelseaand from all over Europe, to come back home and do what a Peruvian did forCorinthians in Japan.
